Opera Scotland

Midsummer Night's Dream 1979Scottish Opera

Scottish Opera's fourth season at the Theatre Royal (1978-79) opened with Simon Boccanegra, and continued with Jenůfa, Catiline Conspiracy then an unusual triple-bill of Savitri, Fanny Robin and Dido and Aeneas. Next came Seraglio, Rosenkavalier, Hansel and Gretel, Fledermaus, Midsummer Night's Dream, Bohème, Kátya Kabanová and Rigoletto. In June there followed the company's first staging of a musical, Fiddler on the Roof. Many of these works were also toured.

The 'Midsummer Night's Dream Repertory Company' duly reconvened for a further batch of four performances that introduced the production to the Theatre Royal. The fourth of these was the forty-ninth performance, and the staging would eventually clock up around sixty.

There were several changes among the adult singers. The quartet of lovers had now changed in its entirety since the 1972 opening. James Bowman usually took the part of Oberon unless otherwise occupied, and here the counter-tenor John York Skinner, perhaps better known as a Handel exponent, came in for his only appearances with the company. Flute was frequently sung by other tenors since Francis Egerton's contract as a company regular at Covent Garden had to take priority. His alternate here, also making his only appearances with Scottish Opera, was Bernard Dickerson, who had given innumerable performances of the part in the Colin Graham production for the English Opera Group.